Bao Quoc Pagoda

Every morning and every evening, a great bell sounds from a hill in Hue. The bell is more than two hundred years old.

The bell belongs to Báo Quốc Pagoda. The people of Hue call it one of the most sacred old pagodas of the former capital. Its full name is Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự, and those words hold a whole history. In Chinese, Báo Quốc means to repay one's homeland and one's country. Sắc Tứ means a title granted by royal decree. A pagoda that carries it is officially sponsored by the Nguyễn court. The Nguyễn dynasty was Vietnam's last royal dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945. Báo Quốc received the title not once but twice.

The story begins in 1670.

At that time the ruler was Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần, also known as Lord Hiền. The Nguyễn lords were a noble family who ruled southern Vietnam from the 16th to the 18th century. A Zen master named Giác Phong had come from China to Vietnam, and the lord held him in high regard. With the lord's help, the master built a pagoda on Hàm Long hill, south of the Hue citadel. Its first name was Hàm Long Sơn Thiên Thọ Tự. Hàm Long means the dragon's mouth. Thiên Thọ means to live for countless years. The hill was named for its shape, which resembles a dragon's head in feng shui.

Around 1674, a well was dug at the pagoda. The water was clear and sweet, and it never ran dry. The spring ran so strongly that it seemed to spout like a dragon's mouth, so the well was named the Hàm Long Well.

In 1747, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Khoát ordered a great restoration of the pagoda. He also granted the plaque that reads Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự. This was the first time the title was given.

Then came 1808. Empress Hiếu Khương directed a second great restoration. She was the mother of Emperor Gia Long and the grandmother of Emperor Minh Mạng. Gia Long was the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty. She had the Tam Quan gate rebuilt. She also had a great bell cast, weighing 836 cân. That bell still hangs here, more than 200 years old. It is the bell heard each morning and evening.

In 1824, Emperor Minh Mạng came to the pagoda in person. He granted the title Sắc Tứ Báo Quốc Tự once again. The pagoda has carried that name for the two centuries since. In all, it has lasted through four reigns of Nguyễn lords and emperors.

The Hàm Long Well lies inside the pagoda grounds and is about five to six meters deep. The water is very clear and very sweet, and it has not run dry in hundreds of years. The people of Hue have said for generations that this is a forbidden well. The water is as clear as jade, yet ordinary people dare not drink it, for fear of offending something sacred. They still stand before the well and look at the clear green water. No one drinks.

That is a folk legend. No science says the water is dangerous.

The whole complex is laid out in the shape of the character Khẩu. Khẩu is the Chinese character for mouth, written as a closed square. The main hall stands at the front. The hall for worshipping the founding masters stands at the back. A guest house and the monks' quarters line the two sides, with an open courtyard in the middle. The space closes in on itself like a small world, cut off completely from the noise outside. The columns are inlaid with fine pieces of pottery and porcelain, in the traditional Nguyễn style.

Since 1948, Báo Quốc has been the home of Hue's Buddhist intermediate school. It is the largest training center for monks and nuns in central Vietnam. In the courtyard, young monks and nuns can be seen studying the sutras.

Few pagodas in Hue can claim what Báo Quốc has. It has more than 350 years of history and a royal title granted twice. It has a bell more than 200 years old and a well that no one dares to drink from. And it has a Buddhist school that is still alive every day.